The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1887-12-15
letter in hand, went mp to his work room
10 tell him of Ethel's death he had been

! him. but was too little in the habit Of as
/ serting herself 10 insist on her timidly ex-
pressed desire. She therefore contented
| herself as best she could during his alb
sencc by making preparations Tor the
! child's reception. With the aid OF Aunt
] Kitty. she brought from the attic cradle,
which had once been her own, and dust
ing it. free Of cobwebs. provided it with
bedding with her own deft fingers. AS a
spinster. she also willingly lent humble
/ attention 10 course of lectures on baby
/ culture. undergoing considerable brow
heating from old Kitty, who had raised a
/ numerous progeny in her day and was not
at all inclined to forego such an oppor-
iunity Of airing her stock of musty re-
ccipis.
Rachel accepted her hectoring as the
probable accompaniment Of superior
/ knowledge and meekly anxious To prOht
by her sage counsels, went for peppermint
10 the corner drugstore, where she was
IN turn patronized by the clerk-a
friendly young fellow, whose upper
lin looked rs il he had bitten into
deep Slice Of pumpkin pie. He
was 80 knowing about baby's stomach
the possible teeth, and talked 50 glibiy
about the ills threatening infantile exist
cnce. that Rachel would have been greatly
alarmed il lac had not always ended by put
ting into her hand some infallble remedy
for the evil upon which he expatiated;
so that she began TO see that II was all
matter Of being initiated aud went home
with her arms full Of patent medicine to
spend the last afternoon Of her brothers
/ tylA
never for moment suspecting that the
MINES Of patrons and physicians were
fictitious. Indeed, with the medical pro
fcssi0n thus at her back, she received with
no little dignity Aunt Kitty's sighting
opinion of her purchases
Asst grew dark, however, she became too
restless 10 keep 10 any employment and
spent her time vibrating between the
window ana lireplace-beiug driven from
the window by fidgety care OF her all
mcnts. aud from The fire back 10 the VIII
dow again by the fear that her deafness
would prevent her from knowing Of the
arrival Of the carriage
As she was thus standing by the win
dow Aunt Kitty made her appearance,
carrying a saucepan Of pOrrdge as an *
cuse foI her intrusion. She stopped short
ln the doorway, evidently surprised 10
ind her mistress alone fastening 10
her side she called in her ear, missy,
whar dc baby
They have not come vet, - said Rachel.
"Mahs Dave 3 hyarr cried the old
woman. and Selling Rachel by the arm
she drew her TO q window looking out on
ihc side garden, where "a light, eyidertly
FROM the laboratory at the top of the
house, was shining on the snow.
Rachel looked helplessly at her com
ranion
Missy" said the old woman, go De
LOr'. is gwne up dar! and she started
for the door, perhaps not little strength
cnel in her determination by seeing that
Rachel followed her
She climbed the stairs, Shaping her big
feet down with less noise than was her
wont swaying from side 10 side until her
hands touched the walls and muttering
below her breath. "Ole dog, ole black
dog whether Of her master or Of the
devil, who was supposed to be his ally,
she did not make clear.
rs her turbaned herd came above the
level Oi the upper landing she looked ia
q
OF sudden she squatted, and, Selling
Rachels skirts, gasped in II whisper:
10 dc Lor' sake, chile, keep still'
But curiosity was as strong as fear,
and she crept up "a couple of steps that
she might, in her orOuching position,
command "A view of the room.
She did not in the least doubt that
the "Old black man" was before her
as She gazed at the moth eaten orang
outang in the corner There was an M.
canny skeleton in sight and the haring
lights made the uncOuth shadows cast by
the retOrts tremulOus, as if the long
stcmmed disks were struggling into life
Rachel was struggling with u vague
fear that as yet had no shape, and re-
eardless of Aunt kitty's OBTAINING hand
pushed upward that she might see into
the room. But the cause OF Aunt Kitty s
sudden fright was not evident to her
She looked at her brother and saw that he
was looking quietly into small box,
which stood on u table in the center Of
the room. 1t was, in fact, an automatic
incubator Of his own manufacture.
Early that day he day suddenly
doubted whether he had filled the lamp
home; then, if he had done 50, Was
he sure of the thermometer or, would
the egg revolye property and his
mind had gone on imagining all possible
defects in the machine, and how he might
have made it better, until he grew more
and more desperate at the distance that
separated him from home with every hour
Of travel the express train made toward
his destination; and he had finally taken
to pacing up and down the car with such
a fcversh, one ideaG expression that the
passengers looked after him On reach
ing home however, he found that all had
gone on as well in his absence as if he had
been standing beside the machine day and
night Having scrutinized it with the
fOndness of an inventor, he stood looking
cOmplacently down upon his handiwork,
his eye resting casually on short hori
Zontal line OF red ink, which he had put
On the egg, suspended in the warm air, as
a means Of knowing whether it made its
slow, invisible revolutions. A film Of
absent mindedness had gradually crept
over his face as he looked at the mark,
when all at once he thought he saw it
curve into a rosy mouth and in an instant